Guarlford History Group

Sale of the Foley Estates in 1910

Introduction

The Foley Estates sale took place on 15th and 16th
September 1910 by order of Sir Henry Foley Grey, Bart a relative of
Lady Foley who once 'ruled the roost' in Malvern. (The Foley family
had made their money from ironworks some three hundred years
before.) The auctioneer was
Messrs Walter, Ludlow & Briscoe of Temple Street, Birmingham, and
the sale was held in the Assembly Rooms, Great
Malvern in Worcestershire.

The sale comprised farms, land and homes in
Malvern Link, Great Malvern, Malvern Wells, Guarlford, Barnards
Green, Sherrard's Green, Hall Green and Pool Brook in the parishes
of Great Malvern and Guarlford amounting to about 1,365 acres and
divided into 101 lots. The sale gave many tenants the opportunity to
buy their homes and in some cases farms.

On this page we take a look at some of the land and
buildings sold adjoining the Guarlford Road.

Many of the black and white cottages which stood
along the Guarlford Road and at Hall Green have since been
demolished, but the sale catalogue indicates where these properties
were and who was renting them in 1910. The 1911 census tells us more
about these residents.

The area now referred to as Barnards Green in
those days ran either side of the Guarlford Road from the present
shops most of the way to Guarlford. Hall Green Road and the surrounding modern houses
did not exist in 1910, and there seems to have been just a footpath
or track across
Hall Green common to the Madresfield Road.

Here are extracts from the Foley Estates sale
catalogue about the land and buildings surrounding the Guarlford
Road which comprised lots 63 to 79 of the sale, to which has been
added a little
information about the people that lived there in 1911 and subsequent
use of the land and buildings.

Extracts from the sale catalogue

Lots 63 to 66 - fields which are now housing

Lots 63 to 66 comprised fields to the north of
the Guarlford Road and to the west of Hall Green.

The Guarlford Road Estate was built here in the
1970s, including such roads as Eston Avenue, Hastings Road,
Windrush Crescent and Teme Avenue. Many scientists from the Signals
Research and Development Establishment came to live there when their
base at Christchurch was closed and work moved to Malvern; SRDE and
the Royal Radar Establishment were then merged to become the Royal Signals and Radar
Establishment.

Lot 63 was described as freehold accommodation
land of about 6 acres with a frontage of 107 yards let to Thomas
Lisseman and Thomas Powles at £14 per annum.

Lot 64 was described as two fields of freehold
accommodation land of about 6 acres with a frontage of 116 yards let
to George Brant and James Butt at
about £14 per annum.

Lot 65 was a corner field of freehold
accommodation land of about 3 acres having a frontage of 220 yards
let to Mr Herbert Phipps at about £7 per annum.

Lot 66 headed 'Hall Green' was an adjacent field of
freehold accommodation meadow land of 3 acres let to George Brant at
£7 per annum; the tenant paying rates and taxes. The field fronted
on to the west side of Hall Green common (overlooking the pond
immediately behind Teme Avenue).

The 1911 census records that George Lisseman and George Brant were cab
proprietors, Thomas Powles was a carpenter, and James Butt was a plumber
and painter, so it's possible their fields were used to graze horses used to pull cabs,
and carts.

We found only one Herbert Phipps in Malvern in
1911; he was then a gardener living at Hayes Bank Cottage (near St
Andrew's church), but previously he had also been a cab proprietor.

Lot 67 - Rose Farm

Lot 67 comprised fields opposite the Green
Dragon pub known as Rose Farm. This lot was headed 'Guarlford, Barnards Green' and
described as a compact small freehold estate:

comprising two modern built cottages and four
enclosures of Meadow Land and Orcharding, together with ample farm
buildings. In the occupation of Mr Charles Warner as annual tenant,
Michaelmas entry, at a rent of £106, the tenant paying all rates and
taxes.

The (semi-detached)cottages are brick built with tiled roofs,
and are sub-let to John Cameron and John Bamford, and the
accommodation comprises Vestibule, Sitting Room, Kitchen, Larder,
Back Kitchen, and three Bedrooms, with Pigsty and run, w.c. and
garden.

The farm buildings adjoining are enclosed in a
yard, and contain two Pigsties, brick and tiled Barn, Cider House
and Mill, two-stall Stable, Tool Shed, Furnace and Boiler, Coal
House, Cider Shed, Wood Shed and Rick Yard. In part 264 is an
enclosed yard with range of shedding, brick and tiled Buildings for
four cows, Loose Box and Loft over, and a Loose Box.

In field number 265 is a brick and timber built
Barn with tiled roof, known as the 'Old Malt House'. (This may be the
building referred to in the Guarlford Story as a Tithe Barn, since
demolished.)

Remarks:- This lot is very convenient as every
field abuts on to a highway. The land is of excellent quality, the
Houses are well built and in good order, and the Buildings ample and
sufficient for a small country or pleasure farm.

Charles Warner ran a livery stables on Belle Vue
Terrace, so was probably grazing his horses at Rose Farm. John
Cameron born Edinburgh was unemployed in 1911; possibly he had been
a County Council Bailiff. We have not found a John Bamford, but in
1911 Joseph Banford, a postman born at Guarlford was living at
Warner's Farm. His wife was a dressmaker and his son Percival worked
at a stationer's shop.

The photo below shows the Shinn family sawing a
tree trunk on the common opposite Rose Farm; in the distance can be seen
the farm buildings and cottages in the south west corner of the
field (source: Shinn family album).

The two semi-detached cottages still stand at
109, Guarlford Road. The photo below shows the cottages as they are
now.

Rose Farm was purchased
by a developer after WWII. The farm buildings were later converted
to the home now known as Rose Farm Barn.

The old barn opposite the Green Dragon was
not uniquely identified in the sale particulars; it fell into
disrepair, but was rebuilt and converted circa 2013 into the
dwelling now known as Rose Cottage (see below).

Rose Cottage

Lot 68 - Laburnam House

Barnards Green

A freehold small holding comprising a double
fronted dwelling house known as 'Laburnam House'. Containing
Vestibule, Sitting Room, Kitchen, Coal and Wood House, Larder, Back
Kitchen with Bread Oven, three Bedrooms and two Attics. Also a
Brick and Wood Erection comprising Piggeries, Loose Box, Fowl-pen,
Furnace and Boiler, together with a capital Garden and Paddock the whole comprising 1a
3r 7p or thereabouts, and let to Mr George E Trigg on an annual
tenancy, Michaelmas entry at £25 per annum, the tenant paying rates
and taxes.

The 1911 census records the occupation of George
Edwin Trigg born at Malvern about 1867 as the manager of a livery
yard.

Lot 69 - Three Cottages at Hall Green

Hall Green

Three picturesque, half-timbered freehold cottages and gardens.
One is in the occupancy of Mrs Williams on a monthly tenancy at £6
per annum and two are let to John Bedington on quarterly tenancies
who has been in occupation for more than 20 years, at £13 per annum.

Total annual rental £19 per annum, the owner paying all rates and
taxes. Area about 1,900 square yards.

Remarks - These cottages adjoin Hall green, are pleasantly
situated, with a very charming view of Malvern.

In the 1911 census John Edmond Bedington is
described as an Engine Attendant, Malvern Urban District Council.
Next door are living widow Harriett Williams aged 48, a laundress
and Elizabeth Jane Drinkwater, also a laundress

The photo below shows a close up of the cottages
from the Guarlford History Group archive (source: Bedington family
album).

The cottages, which stood on the corner of Jackpit Lane,
eventually
fell into decay after being left empty and were
demolished circa 2000 in order to build a large modern house named 'The Paddocks'.

Here there are good views across Hall Green common to the hills.

Lot 70 - Jessamine and Lashford Cottages

These cottages, long since demolished, once stood
opposite the Green Dragon to the right of the old barn which is now
named Rose Cottage, as shown in this image from the sale catalogue.

Barnards Green

Two freehold brick and timbered cottages with
Tiled Roof and known as,

Jessamine Cottage

containing Kitchen with Coal Cellar under,
Bedroom and Attic, Washhouse, Earth Closet, Pigsty and Garden. Let
to George Griffiths, on a monthly tenancy, at £5 per annum.

George Griffiths was a general labourer, born
Guarlford about 1862. His father had been a wheelwright.

Lashford Cottage

containing Kitchen and Back Kitchen, Two Bedrooms
and Attic, Pantry, Washhouse, Earth Closet, Toolhouse, Pigsty and
Garden. Let to Samuel Stanton Junior, on a monthly tenancy at £4 4s
per annum.

Samuel Stanton was a labourer who worked for the
Malvern Urban District Council. Also living at the cottage were his
wife, three grown up children and a lodger. Samuel's father lived at
Hall Green.

The photo below shows a close up of the cottages
from the Guarlford History Group archive.

Lot 71 - Cottages and blacksmith's shop on the corner of Chance
Lane

Guarlford

Freehold cottages, gardens and business premises
at the corner of Barnard's Green and the road leading to Sherrard's
Green; comprising the Blacksmith's Shop and Office,
Open Shed with Corrugated Iron Roof, and Wheelwright Shop and Yard.
Let to Mrs Ellen Cole on monthly tenancy at £15 per annum.

Yew Tree Cottage

Brick and Timber built with thatched roof
containing Kitchen, Pantry, Cellar, Sitting Room, Two Bedrooms,
Washhouse, Earth Closet, Tool Shed and good Garden. Let to Frank
Burston, on a monthly tenancy, at £7 per annum.

Frank Burston is described in the 1911 census as
an Agricultural Engineer. Living with him were his wife and five
children; it must have been pretty cramped.

(Note: a 'Yew Tree Cottage' still exists at 3,
Chance Lane, but that property has a tiled roof so either the original building was
modernised and extended or more likely the original cottage was
replaced in the 1920s.)

Also three Brick-Built Cottages, with Slated and
Tiled Roofs, known as,

Woodbine Cottage, Ivy Cottage, and Vine
Cottage

In the occupation of Mrs Elizabeth Price, on a
monthly tenancy at £12 per annum; Miss Anne Healey, on a monthly
tenancy, at £9 9s per annum, and Mrs Sarah Healey, on a monthly
tenancy, at £10 per annum. Total annual rental; £53 9s, the owner
paying all rates and taxes.

Area 0a 3 r 14p.

Remarks - The above is a good corner
property, and well occupied by a respectable class of tenants.

Elizabeth
Price who lived at Vine Cottage was the grandmother of village
historian Joan Bradshaw. Her husband Frank, a bank clerk, had died in 1902.

We have no photo of the cottages, but there are photos of the Price
family who often sat out on the common in the summer (source:
Bradshaw family album)

In this photo taken about 1930 Joan and her brother Colin are
sitting in front of their mother Florence Ada Bradshaw who is sitting next to her
mother Elizabeth Price. In the back row is Joan's father Victor
Bradshaw and Florence's
sister Lucy May who married an Indian surgeon.

An earlier photo (see below) taken in the
1920s shows Joan and her brother Colin
and mother in the back garden of The Vines overlooking the common. A tall telegraph pole can
just be made out on the edge of the Guarlford Road. Colin Bradshaw
was later to fly Lancaster bombers in WWII; he survived the war and
lived to a good age.

The photos below, taken in the 1960s, (source:
the Cole family), show the corner of the common where Raymond Cole
ran his Coach Building business with his wife Emily. Possibly Emily
was the 'Ellen' Cole referred to as renting the premises.

Raymond and Emily Cole lived opposite their
business in a semi-detached house now named Valentines; they also rented the
Smithy further down Chance Lane. These were the subject of Lot 75 (see
below). When Raymond Cole retired in the 1930s, the premises was sold
to Woodwards Coaches.

The next photo shows more of the buildings taken from a window of
the Coles' home across the road. In 1910, wagons would have been
built here, and horses shoed.

The Guarlford Story relates:

Raymond Cole was a wheelwright who lived in the
first house on the right in Chance Lane and built carts and wagons
for farmers and tradesmen.

He owned a wheelwright’s shop on the edge of the
common, and opposite, a smithy where he employed blacksmiths,
including Alf Young's grandfather. The blacksmiths shod horses but
also fitted the carts and wagons with their iron furnishings and
fixed the iron tyres on the wheels.

Sam Beard remembers the finished
vehicles painted in bright colours standing outside to be admired by
passers-by until collected by their owners. So there was a hive of
industry at the end of Chance Lane in the first part of the
twentieth century, with farm machinery to be repaired and horses to
be shod.

In the blacksmith’s yard was a large round iron platform on
which the wheels were shod with iron bands. Men with large pincers
carried the band red-hot from the forge and dropped it over the
wheel in place on the platform; buckets of water were quickly thrown
over it, and the smith, in clouds of steam, hammered it all round
until it cooled and fitted tightly, ready for many years’ hard work
on road or land. This process held a great fascination for children
peering through the palings of the gate, always closed for safety on
such occasions.

The wheelwright premises were later taken over by
‘Woodwards Coaches’, known to many still living in the village
today, and then by ‘Miles Transport’.

Charlie Williams of Sherrard’s Green recalls how,
as a child of six, he saw how the smithies and wheelwrights were
affected by the Depression of the 1930s, when Mr Ray Cole said that
only the milk ponies were being shod and people were economising by
not having harness and carts repaired.

All the properties that comprised Lot 71 have
since been demolished and the land now forms part of the common
owned by the Malvern Hills Conservators; see photo below.

Lot 72 - Grove House Farm

A valuable freehold estate known as Grove House
Farm in the parish of Guarlford, adjoining the Madresfield Estate,
Leigh Charity Land and other portions of the Foley Estate, including
five Cottages.

The farm house was known as the Homestead:

which is beautifully situated, a capital
residence with Hall entrance, Dining Room, Drawing Room, Kitchen,
Larder, Dairy, Back Kitchen and Three Cellars. On the First Floor,
Four Bedrooms and one Dressing Room, and Three Bedrooms with Attic
chamber over, which are approached by front and back stairs.

The farm buildings are conveniently arranged, and
include Paved Yard, with Washing Shed and Boiler, Cider Shed, Wood
Shed and Calf House. Trap House, Coach-house, Boiling House,
Three Pig Sties, Potato House or Mixing Shed with Granary over,
Cow Shed for nine, Two-stall Nag Stable and Loft. Cow Shed for eight
and Bull Pen. Open Shed and enclosed Yard, Two Loose Boxes, Mixing
House and Chaff Room, Large Shed and Enclosed Yard.

In field 228 are two newly built cottages, each
containing, Vestibule, Living Room, Pantry, Scullery, Thee Bedrooms,
Pig Sty, Loft for Tools, Earth Closet, Dust-bin and good garden.
(Note: we think these black and white cottages stood opposite the junction
of Hall Green Road with Chance Lane where there is a modern house
now. Amy Clifford's story
mentions living there.)

In field 259 is a Double Fronted cottage with
Bakehouse, Outbuilding and Large Garden, let to Mr George
Nicholls at £20 per annum (we think this is the house now
known as The Bakery, opposite the junction of Jackpit Lane with
Chance Lane and Grove House Farm drive)

and Two Thatched Brick and
Timber built Cottages at Hall Green, with Large Gardens, in the
occupation of Mrs Shepherd and Samuel
Stanton.

The whole containing an area of 153 acres.

(We think the latter cottages, since demolished,
were situated near the entrance to the modern development known as
Baldenhall.)

Remarks - The Grove House Farm, which is very
moderately rented, occupies a good position, and has a superior
residence and homestead, in good order and repair, together with
five cottages. The land is well farmed, and the view from the house
towards Malvern and the hills is exceptionally fine.

Grove House Farm was at that time let to Mr
William Brewer. At the farm in 1911 were Mary Ann Brewer aged 66
born at Longdon, her son William Brewer born at Eastnor about 1875,
three daughters, a ploughman and a plough boy. The photo below shows
Bill Brewer, in later life, with a horse and cart (from the
Guarlford History Group
Archive, source: D Lawson).

Grove House Farm was purchased by the Madresfield
Estate and Bill Brewer continued as tenant.

Lot 73 - A field north of Jackpit Lane

No 158 on plan, containing an area of 9 acres or thereabouts,
let with other land to Mr William Brewer as annual tenant,
Michaelmas entry, at the apportioned rent of £7 per annum.

Remarks - This field is bounded by roads on each side
excepting for a small portion at Hall Green - to which it has
frontage extending to over 900 yards.

(The homes in Hall Green Road and Hall Green
Close were built in this field, probably in the 1930s as they were
not shown on the 1927 Ordnance Survey map. For some reason the end
of the field at the Corner of Jackpit Lane and Chance Lane was not
developed. Word of mouth has it that there may be an ancient burial
ground here; hundreds of years ago there was a small Chapel in the field
near the corner of Hall Green Road and Chance Lane.)

Lot 74 - New House Farm

An important freehold estate known as New House
Farm in the occupation of Stephen George Medcalf situated in the
Barnards Green Road near to Guarlford, comprising a Superior
Residence with Hall Entrance, Dining Room 18ft by 16ft, Drawing Room
18ft by 16 ft, Morning Room 13ft 6in by 12ft 6in, Front and Back
Kitchen, Larder, Dairy Wash-house, Boot House, Coal House, Cellar
with rolling way from yard, and Out-offices. Front and back stairs,
Five Good Bedrooms, w.c., Bath Room and Lavatory. On the Second
Floor: Two Bedrooms, Box Room and Work Room; with Lawn at front of
house, and well-planted borders, and Kitchen Garden.

New House farmhouse in 2010

The Farm Buildings consist of a Cider House and
Mill, Three Hop Kilns and Granary, Cart Horse Stable for six, Three
Pigsties, Barn with two Bays, Mixing House with Loft over, Engine
Shed. Four Calf-pens or Loose Boxes, and Bullpen; Cowshed for
fourteen, Two stall Stable, Coach-house, Three Boxes, Yard, Cart and
Implement Shed, and Rickyard. In Field No 453 there is a Wood Barn
with tiled roof containing two Bays and Brick and Tiled Building,
with Shed, Loose Box Stable, Calf-pen in enclosed yard.

Three Modern-built Cottages, brick build and
tiled, each with two Kitchens, Three Bedrooms, Pigsty and run,
Toolhouse and Large garden (see below).

Also a Detached Four-Roomed Cottage near the
above, with Large Gardens, together with the Enclosures of Fertile
Pasture, Meadow, Arable and Hop Lands containing 148 acres or
thereabouts.

Remarks - The New House has recently been
improved by the addition of Two Reception Rooms and a Hall Entrance,
and has a capital Homestead adjoining. The present tenant has been
in occupation for about 26 years. The land includes turf of good
quality with a fair proportion of Arable and Hop Grounds and has
been well farmed.

The four room cottage mentioned above may be the
house shown below which has been extended and modernised.

The photo below shows New House Farm as it was about 1900, before
the extension of the front,
with Oast Houses on the left - from the Guarlford Scene (source: A
Medcalf).

The exterior of the farmhouse at Grove House Farm appears to have
been of a similar design.

Lot 75 - Freehold cottages and workshop

Guarlford, Near Barnards Green, two modern built
Freehold Cottages and Workshop with large Gardens.

The Cottages contain Kitchen, Scullery, Pantry,
Living Room and three Bedrooms; earth closet, Pigsty, Tool House,
and a good Garden. One is let to Mrs Ellen Cole on a monthly
tenancy, Michaelmas entry at £10 per annum, and one to Mr Stephen
George Medcalf, on an annual tenancy, Michaelmas entry, at £10 per
annum.

Also a Building nearly adjoining used as a
wheelwright paint shop, let to Mrs Ellen Cole, on a monthly tenancy,
at an apportioned rent of £3 per annum. Total rental £23 per annum
the owner paying al rates and taxes.

Area 0a 2r 16p or thereabouts.

Remarks - The above is a well built property
in good order and repair and let at moderate rentals.

(This lot refers to the two semi-detached houses
and workshop towards the end of Chance Lane.)

Coles' Smithy

Lot 76 - A freehold cottage

Guarlford

A freehold cottage with large Garden, having a
frontage to the road to Upton-upon-Severn of about 60 yards, in the
occupation of Mrs Davis, at a rental of £3 per annum.

The Cottage contains Kitchen, Back Kitchen,
Washhouse, Two Bedrooms, and a Building at bottom of garden, used as
a laundry.

Lot 77 - Two fields

Two enclosures of freehold meadow land adjoining
the property of Mr G E Lane and the Foley estate, near Wood Street,
Nos 466 and 467 on plan, containing 3 acres and let to Mr G E Lane
on an annual tenancy, Michaelmas entry, at £6 per annum, the tenant
paying all rates and taxes.

The Lane family farmed at Woodbridge Farm for
many generations.

Lot 78 - Two thatched cottages

Two picturesque freehold brick and timber built
thatched cottages in the occupation of Mrs Hannah Woodland, on an
annual tenancy, at £15 per annum. The smaller cottage has Two Rooms
down, and one Bedroom, Scullery and Bakehouse; and the larger
cottage, Living Room, Sitting Room, Pantry and Three Bedrooms.
Outside is Wood Cart Shed, Washhouse, Pigsty, Closet and Toolhouse.
The houses are surrounded by a Large Garden and Small Paddock, and
stands well back from the Barnard's Green Road.

Area 1a 1r 14p or thereabouts.

Remarks - The above houses are a fine example
of brick and timber work, with thatched roof. They are in fair order
and repair, and are beautifully situated in the centre of a large
garden, standing well back from the road, to which the property has
a large frontage.

The timber framed buildings now form one property
on the Guarlford Road, opposite the junction with Chance Lane.

Lot 79 - Mill Farm (sold privately)

Barnard's Green

An important freehold estate known as Mill Farm
Barnard's Green having long frontages to the Barnard's Green Road
and Malvern Common, and adjoining other portions of the Foley Estate
and the property of the Duke Gandolfi. Let with six Cottages and
Gardens to Mrs Bullock, whose family have been tenants for many
generations, and in other occupations. The Mill Farm House and
Homestead are very pleasantly situated at Barnard's Green. The
Superior Residence contains Hall entrance, Dining Room, Drawing
Room, Breakfast Room, with Cellar under Drawing Room, China Pantry,
Back Hall, Dairy, Larder, Kitchen, Back Kitchen, and Cider House,
Eight Bedrooms, Dressing Room, Boxroom, Lumber Room, and Front and
Back Stairs, with capital Kitchen Garden. The buildings include Fowl
Houses and runs, Two Pigsties, Cider Mill, Cake House with Loft, Two
Calf-pens, Open Shed and Yard, Cow House for eight, Calf Cot,
Cow-house for fourteen, Large Two Bay Barn, Mixing House, Bull Pen,
Fowl House, Rick Yard, Cart and Implement Shed with Granary over,
Nag Stable (two stalls), Cart Stable for five, Loose Box, Carriage
House. The yard is approached through a covered gateway. In No 200
on plan there is a Fold Yard, with Brick and Tiled Buildings,
including Barn with Two Bays, open shed, and Timber and Corrugated
Shed, and Loose Box, and Three Cottages with Large Gardens. In 459
on Plan there are Two Fold Yards with Brick and Tiled Buildings,
including Barn with Two Bays, wood lean-to Cart Shed, Pigsty, Loose
Box, and Brick and Tiled Open Shed, together with Two Cottages and
Gardens let with the farm. There is also a good Detached Cottage
with Garden in part 526 on Plan.

Remarks - The Mill Farm occupies an important
position owing to its proximity to Great Malvern. The land is
undulating, and from which most beautiful views of Malvern and the
hills are obtainable.

There is a capital House and Homestead and
the farm is bounded by good roads and common land, on two sides of
which are laid sewerage, gas and water mains, and the property
possesses great prospective value and is very desirable either for
occupation or investment.

The property let to Messrs Tilt Bros includes
a good Brick and Tile Cottage and Garden, Wagon Shed, Four Pigsties
and runs, and Corn Mill with Two Chambers over and Basement.

The schedule that follows lists,

Mrs Bullock renting the Farm House, six
cottages and 248 acres

Mrs Wilks renting a small meadow of less than
one acre

Mrs Kite and William Taylor renting cottages

Messrs Tilt Bros renting a cottage, Corn Mill
and 5 acres of meadow

E Trigg renting 24 acres of orchard and
meadow

The sporting rights over part of Mrs Bullock's
farm are let to Duke Gandolfi on a yearly Lady Day tenancy at £4 12s
per annum. The Landlord paying rates.

A map in the catalogue shows that the Corn Mill
and cottage were at the bottom of Mill Lane, where the remains of a
water mill can still be seen. The Tilt family who rented the cottage
and land were dairy farmers at Hanley Swan and had a milk delivery
business.